Suture package



C. F. HQDRINE SUTURE PACKAGE Dec. 24, 1940.

Filed April 4, 1959 awuentoo 6 LZ/Flldl? rm Patented Dec. 24, 1940UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

My invention relates to sterilized sutures, or

ligatures used for suturing and tying in surgical operations and moreparticularly to a novel and improved form of suture bobbin forsupporting 5 and packaging a required length of suture strand inhelically coiled form.

Prior to the invention herein disclosed, it was the practice to packageand preserve a length of ligature or suture strand, known to the tradeas 1. catgut, by winding same into a concentrated coil,

or upon a relatively stiff card-like reel, or preferably upon a rigidconical bobbin such as shown and claimed in my co-pending application,Serial No. 198,177, filed March 26, 1938. The coiled suture isthereafter treated and sterilized and finally maintained in a moistened,sterile condition by submerging same in a quantity of alcohol, or othersuitable liquid, in a sealed transparent container, which may be brokenon a predeterf3!" mined line, to release the ligature for use.

Such prior products have the disadvantage that the strand is oftendamaged during the process of coiling and/or during sterilizing andpackaging, so that the normal and desired twist "*3 in the strand iscaused to open up at points when moistened, or to be otherwise weakenedthrough contraction and expansion so that failure of the suture'in useoccurs. As is fully pointed out in my former application, aboveidentified, this 9 failure is due mainly to irregular and thus too rapiddisintegration of strand portions of the ligature in contact with thetissue fluids.

As in the structure of my said prior application, it is likewise anobject of the instant inven- 35 tion to overcome the tendency of thestrand to become untwisted during packaging, and further to prevent suchundue stretching of the strand as has caused weakening and untwistingthereof during contraction and expansion on dehydration andsterilization.

The improved bobbin, hereinafter described, overcomes these diflicultiesand has the advantage that the ligature is more easily and quicklywithdrawn from the bobbin for use, and without 45 kinking or theformation of knots when drawn taut.

By this invention the twist of the catgut strand, which is generallyapplied clockwise in its original preparation, is perfectly maintainedand even increased by the operation of spirally winding the strand in aclockwise direction upon my contractable, conical bobbin. It will beunderstood, that in the practice of this invention, the ligature orsuture strand may be originally twisted irreither a right or left handdirection,

but that the strand must be wound upon the bobbin to correspond to theoriginal twist in whichever direction it was performed, the direction ofWinding being always the same as the direction of the twist.

The instant invention has the further advantage that the ligature may bemore uniformly wound in the form of a smoothly curved spiral upon theimproved supporting cone which also serves to firmly retain the same inall contracted or expanded conditions thereof. Further, that due to thecontractable structure of the bobbin the coil strand may be let off ofthe bobbin with greater ease and without chance of unwinding so that itmay be drawn taut and thus straightened. By this structure and method ofhandling the coiled suture strand the original twist may be increasedwhen the strand is thus straightened, so as to eliminate the formationof flattened or untwisted portions therein which may further result inthe cutting of the flesh in use.

So that the invention of this application may be more readily understoodit'will now be explained that it is the common practice to wind aligature or suture strand into the form of a cone centrated loop or upona reel or bobbin and to then place the same into a glass tube, one endof'which is sealed.- The ligature or suture package thus formed is thenready for sterilizing treatment prior to scaling the same. Thistreatment is usually accomplished by next placing into the open end ofthe glass tube a plug of cotton and the tube thus closed by the cottonis then placed in a vacuum dryer or machine to' Withdraw all water fromthe suture material and package within the tube. After drying, the tubeand its contents are next sterilized at a temperature of approximately300 degrees F., for at least one hour and these drying and sterilizationsteps of the treating process, generally cause a contraction of thestrand in the longitudinal dimension; for instance, a sixty inch strandWill contract from 2 to 3 inches. A sterile hollow needle is next passedthrough the cotton plug, and through this needle a preserving solutionis added to the glass tube containing the dehydrated and sterilizedsuture package. The tube is then ready for sealing off in the usualmanner by means of a double or triple needle point gas flame. Thissealing or closing of the tube takes place between the preservingsolution level and the cotton plug, thus producing a hermetically sealedpackage approximately 4 inches in length.

The preserving solution, usually 95% alcohol, also serves as a vehicleto add a small amount of moisture to the dehydrated suture or gut tomake the gut pliable for use and at this point it has been observed thateven this tiny amount of water in the preserving solution causes amarked swelling of the strand which takes in its transverse diameter.

As a result of the longitudinal contraction or shrinkage of the strandduring sterilizing treatment of the suture package and the subsequentsoftening and swelling of the gut strand in the preserving solution itwill have a tendency to finally untwist in the counterclockwisedirection, the strand having been originally wound in a clockwisedirection. This loss of twist or open ing up of the ribbon-like strand,inthe solution, exposes more and more inner surfaces of the ligaturematerial, in the package, and in use these exposed surfaces will besubject to the influence of tissue juices, which will actively engagesaid surface portions and result in too rapid and unsatisfactorydissolution of the ligature. As a result, it has been observed thatfailure of the ligature through loss of twist therein, has followed withvery serious consequences as greatly affecting the success ofoperations. I

A further object of my invention is to protect the sterile suturepackage during removal of same from the frangible container and duringdelivery and dispensing of the strand for use. It

is readily apparent that delivery of the strand from the containerrequires considerable exposure of the ligature to the hand, resulting inthe chance of contamination of the sterile ligature with infectiousbacteria, which in turn may be transmitted to the wound. The protectingsheath and label carrying wrapper of this application is designed toovercome these disadvantages and to prevent cutting and damage to thecoiled strand during breaking of the lass tube, in which it ishermetically sealed.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a-complete suture package as wellas details of the improved bobbin and manner of winding the suturestrand thereon, the product illustrated being intended to show theinvention in its preferred form wherein:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged side elevation of my improved suture packageillustrating the manner in which it is sealed and immersed in a liquidcontainer, which container is broken away longitudinally to illustratesuch package in detail;

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged view in side elevation showing the suturepackage as it will appear when the bobbin is first wound with a lengthof ligature and/or after sterilization and moistening of the woundbobbin to return the strand thereof to normal condition;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the contracted suture packageafter treatment to dehydrate and sterilize the same, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in section showing the completed suturepackage within a sealing tube and protected by a conical label bearingsheath.

Referring to the drawing in detail, I have shown in Fig. 1 a tubularcontainer 5, of the type in general use for this purpose, the containerbeing preferably formed from a length of glass tubing hermeticallysealed at opposite ends to provide a transparent, frangible enclosurefor a sterile suture package, indicated generally at 6. Within thisglass enclosure 5, is further contained a quantity of alcohol or otherligature preserving and sterilizing liquid 1, and as shown in Fig. 4, alabel 8, preferably formed of paper and providing a conical wrapper forthe suture package may also be included, all as will be more fullydescribed and claimed hereinafter.

The suture package 6 comprises a bobbin 9 upon which a length of suturestrand l0, also referred to as ligature and catgut, is wound. It willhere be noted that the winding of the strand l upon the bobbin isperformed in accordance with the teachings in my prior application S. N.198,177, i. e. for a right hand twisted strand the direction of helicalwinding will be in a right hand direction, the direction of windingbeing always the same as the direction of twist.

The bobbin of this application is conical in shape and may be of thesame configuration and taper as that disclosed in said priorapplication. Preferably, the bobbin comprises a circular base 'portionII which tapers very gradually towards the peak l2 of the conical bodyfor about one quarter of the length of the body, beyond which point, thetaper is more abrupt to the peak or apex of the cone to facilitateremoval of the coiled strand Ill without unwinding.

Extending transversely through the bobbin body 9, adjacent the base endI I, is formed an aperture I3, of such size as to receive one or bothends of the suture strand l0, which strand is helically wound on thetapered surface of the body to provide the package 6.

As is more clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the bobbin 9 islongitudinally divided, as at M, by slitting or sawing through thetapered body, from the apex l2 to the aperture [3 through the baseend-ll, so that the major portion of the tapered body 9 is transverselyresilient and may be readily contracted at right angles to the slit I 4therethrough. By this construction stretching and weakening of thesuture strand I0 is prevented during the usual steps of packaging andsterilizing the strand prior to scaling the same within the glasscontainer 5.

By reference to the showing in Fig. 2 it will be noted that the twolongitudinally tapered, resilient connected portions of the bobbin body9, are spaced uniformly by the slit l4 throughout the length of theseportions, and, further, that the suture strand II] is snugly coiled onthis conical split body, from the transverse aperture l3, to a pointadjacent the apex l2, so as to be firmly supported by said bobbin.

The view of Fig. 2 further represents the condition and appearance ofthe strand l0 and bobbin 9 prior to, as well as after the usualtreatment employed to render this suture package 6, sterile, whereas theview of Fig. 3 represents the contracted condition of the strand andconsequent compressed condition of the slit [4 in the supporting bobbin99, which occurs during the usual treatment of dehydrating the suturepackage, prior to immersing and sealing the same in a preserving liquid.

In prior devices employed for packaging lengths of catgut,- the strandhas been caused to stretch during sterilization due to thenon-conforming or rigid nature of the bobbin or reel, or to be distortedin a direction counter to the twist in the strand, with the result thaton subsequent softening and swelling of the strand in a preservingliquid it will have a tendency to untwist and to expose the weak andstretched tissue portions thereof. I

It will thus be seen that in all conditions of the suture strand undertreatment upon my improved bobbin 9, stretching and distortion of thestrand ll] will be prevented so that upon the addition of the preservingliquid and consequent expansion, of the strand, that said strand willreturn to a substantially normal supported condition, as shown in Figs.1 and 2.

In the view illustrated by Fig. 4, I have shown the parts of theirnormal assembled condition with the protecting sheath or wrapper 8enclosing the major portion of the length of suture strand Hl coiledupon the bobbin 9. This wrapper 8 is preferably formed from a sheet ofpaper or other relatively tough and flexible material on one side ofwhich may be printed the number and size of the ligature strand, maker'sname etc. The sheet may then be rolled into the form of a cone andslipped over the wound bobbin, after which the free end of the suture iswound once or twice around the wrapper 8 and then secured by passingsame through the aperture I3. In this manner the package is made secure.In use the outer covering 8 also serves to protect the coiled twistedstrand 6 on the bobbin 9 from being lacerated or severed when breakingthe enclosing tube and removing the bobbin, as shown in Fig. 4. Further,when it is desired to let the strand off directly from the bobbin foruse in so called free hand ligatures for tying blood vessels etc.,considerable exposure of the ligature to the hand results with chance ofcontamination of the sterile ligature, were it not for the protectingcover 8.

What I claim is:

1. A suture package comprising a bobbin of conical form, a suturestrandhelically coiled on said bobbin, and a conical suture protectingsheath enclosing the coils of suture strand on said bobbin.

2. A suture package comprising a bobbin of conical form, a suture strandhelically coiled on said bobbin, a conical suture protecting sheath bin,and an end portion of said suture strand being wound over said sheathand secured to said bobbin.

3. In a suture package, a bobbin having a twisted suture strand woundhelically thereon in a single layer with each convolution about thebobbin in closely adjacent relationship and with a uniform twist in thesuture strand from end to end thereof and a continuous smooth surfacethroughout, said bobbin having a longitudinally divided conical strandsupporting body, and said body being radially yieldable undercontraction and expansion of said strand to maintain substantiallyuniform tension throughout the strand coiled thereon, whereby twist insaid strand will not be caused to open while supported on or duringremoval from said bobbin.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 in which a conical suture protectingsheath encloses the coils of suture strand on said bobbin.

5. In a suture package a surgical suture and supporting bobbin therefor,the bobbin comprising a longitudinally divided transversely contractableconical body having normally spaced longitudinal edge portions, saidbody being substantially circular in cross-section throughout itstapered supporting surface, and the suture comprising a uniformlytwisted strand wound helically in a single direction and in a singlelayer on said tapered surface with each convolution in closely adjacentrelationship, whereby the suture strand is yieldably supported in theform of a conical coil to prevent untwisting of the strand underconditions of contraction and expansion thereof.

6. The structure defined in claim 5 in which a transversely contractableprotecting sheath of conical form encloses the coils of suture strand onsaid bobbin.

CYRUS F. HORINE.

